China plans manned moon mission

China will begin planning a manned mission to the moon, according to an official white paper released today. The paper, China's Space Activities in 2011, said that research on a heavy-thrust carrier rocket - vital for launching manned spacecraft to the moon - will be carried out in the next five years. But, there is no official timetable for a manned lunar mission. China is also continuing work on a framework of Earth observation, communication and navigation satellites. China carried out 19 launches and sent 21 spacecraft into orbit in 2011, ranking second in the world. Russia took first spot with 36 launches and the US came in third with 18 launches.